Gunman Taco Truck: A fun combo of shoot’em up and Mexican food

John Romero is one of the most recognizable figures in the world of gaming thanks to his work at id Software. His name is inscribed in the credits of legendary titles like Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein – an honor anybody would fall over himself to have. What we didn’t know is that Romero’s latest production is inspired on the crazy idea of his 11-year-old kid: a post-apocalyptic cooking simulator where you have to beat hordes of mutants to stay alive. Welcome to Gunman Taco Truck.

The year is 2020. The explosion of several nuclear bombs has changed the world and masses of animals and humans have mutated into horrifying creatures. Hunger is taking its toll and we have a mission to fulfill: getting to Winnipeg, Canada, to feed people (and make some money) with your taco truck. The game takes the title premise literally: you’ve got to drive through a one city after another until you reach your final destination. The game is nicely divided into two well-differentiated sections: in one are the trips you make with your taco truck from one city to another, and in the other the preparation and selling of food.

In the cities on your way you have to face hordes of mutants: get your fingertip ready as you gotta tap your enemies over and over again to take them down. Plus once they’re defeated you also have to tap their corpses as they are the material you’ll use to make your tacos. Yep, eating giant mutant ants is what’s on the the 2020 post-apocalypse menu. That said, you’ve gotta keep an eye on two things: the mutants that do damage your food-truck and the possibility of running out of gas. To buy fuel you’ll have put on your apron and cook up some tacos.

In the cooking simulation sections you’ll have to prepare tacos for your customers using the meat collected along the way along with less outlandish taco ingredients. The gameplay here is quite simple: you just drag different items onto your taco. If you can do it fast you’ll get tips – but if you mess up the ingredients your clients will demand a refund. To buy more ingredients you have to head to the shop, where you can also get different upgrades and weapons.

Gunman Taco Truck is a fun game that you’ve got to try out. Not just for its madcap plot but also because it coherently mixes two very different genres with narrative fluency and a properly organic gameplay. It does get a bit repetitive after a bit, but it’s got tons of objects and weapons to unlock plus tons of different routes to drive. And its retro graphics are pretty appealling, too.